Airdates: No airdates currently scheduled.

Directed by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti

Spanish, with subtitles in English

Cuba, 2001, 88 minutes

"Carla (Thaïs Valdés) is a bored young postal clerk who dreams of leaving the country to join her parents in Miami. In the meantime, she steals and rewrites letters in order to brighten the lives of their addressees, however briefly. When her illegal subversion of the postal system is discovered by the office manager, the farce begins – a tornado of outrageously cartoonish characters, Keystone Kops-style chase sequences and even a comic nod to Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de souffle, with Valdés striking poses à la Jean Seberg.

But alongside the bureaucratic lunacy, the film takes a serious look at themes of migration and separation that are specifically Cuban. Carla’s dissatisfaction with her life is offset by the pleasure she takes in helping those around her and by her developing relationship with a co-worker. With the United States always looming on the horizon of her dreams, Carla finds herself increasingly ambivalent about the thought of leaving her native country. Cremata Malberti makes a great paradox crystal clear: Cubans are torn between their desire to lead better lives elsewhere and a yearning to solve the problems at home."

– Diana Sanchez, Toronto International Film Festival

About the Director

Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti began his career in film as a writer, actor, and director for a children's television series in Cuba. While working for the program, he received a degree in theater and dramatic arts from La Havan Arts Superior Institut. His work won him a CARACOL award from the Cuban national union of writers and artists. In 1985, he was awarded a special artistic award from the Cuban Cultural Ministry. His work has appeared at international film festivals in Obehausen, Mannheim, Berlin, London, Leipzig, Hamburg, Sao Paulo, Copenhagen, Brussels, Friborg, Montevideo, and Madrid. Cremata and his work have won many awards worldwide. He was a film editing professor at Buenos Aires University and a film-directing professor at the Design and Comercial Panamerican School, also located in Buenos Aires. In 1996, Cremata Malberti was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim grant.

LEARN MORE:

More information about Link's Global Lens series.

Visit the Global Film Initiative.

Buy Nada + here.